It’s been a month since Byron Buxton last played for the Twins and it appears that with Minnesota all but mathematically eliminated from playoff contention, he will not return this season.
The Twins haven’t uttered a peep about Buxton’s status in quite some time, but if the intuition of Pioneer Press reporter John Shipley is accurate, the writing is on the wall.
[Twins] were fairly optimistic on Sept. 13, when they still had five games against [Cleveland] ahead of them, that Buxton come back as a DH this week. Obvious now his season is over,” Shipley tweeted Wednesday night.
#MNTwins were fairly optimistic on Sept. 13, when they still had five games against CLE ahead of them, that Buxton would come back as a DH this week. Obvious now his season is over — ended by a hip injury after 92 games.
— John Shipley: Tier 3 (@ShipleyMN) September 21, 2022
Buxton was placed on the 10-day injured list after leaving Minnesota’s Aug. 22 game against the Rangers. The Twins called his injury a “low grade right hip strain,” an issue that had been bothering him for quite some time, according to manager Rocco Baldelli.
Baldelli said the team kept his hip pain quiet, while all of the attention was on his ailing knee, that he injured while making a catch against the wall and later aggravated while sliding into second base.
Buxton has not resumed any baseball activities. There are 13 days and 13 games left this season. The Twins are nine games behind the Guardians in the AL Central and 8.5 games out of the third wild card spot. Though not formally eliminated, FanGraphs puts the Twins’ playoff chances at 0.0%.
It’s over the for the Twins and it appears to be over for Buxton as well.
Minnesota tried to manage Buxton’s health with a goal of getting him to play in 100 games. He’s played 92 and slugged 28 homers in those games. That translates to 49 homers in 162 games, or 39 home runs in 125 games, which seems far more reasonable for a player with Buxton’s injury history.
According to Baseball Savant, Buxton rates among the best in the game in exit velocity, hard hit rate, expected on-base percentage, expected slugging percentage, barrel rate and sprint speed.
Those numbers are why the Twins signed Buxton to a seven-year, $100 million contract. He’ll be 29 next season entering the second year of that deal, earning an average annual salary of $15 million. That’s a massive bargain if he can stay healthy.
The clutch numbers, however, aren’t as flattering for Buxton. He has a .145 batting average with runners in scoring position, having collected just nine hits in 75 plate appearances with runners in scoring position. And despite his memorable walk-off homers against the White Sox and Orioles, he’s hitting .143 in “late and close” situations.
Are those failures a factor of health or just not coming through in the clutch?
Related: Is health to blame for Byron Buxton’s extreme streaks, slumps?
